Duane Askew plays the clarinet as the Sid Kyler Jazz Band entertains at the 2011 Sid Kyler River Valley Jazz Festival at Bull Falls Brewery in Wausau.

New & improved

NORTHWOODS

A consortium of five Northwoods counties, called the Northwoods of Wisconsin, received a third-year, $15,000 joint effort marketing grant from the Department of Tourism.

The group - consisting of Oneida, Vilas, Langlade, Lincoln and Forest counties - used the first-year grant to conduct market research and the second-year grant to launch a promotional campaign that generated an estimated $7 million in visitor spending. The third-year grant will be used to advertise fall Northwoods travel in the Chicago, Milwaukee and Fox Valley markets, according to a news release.

The Northwoods of Wisconsin leaders estimate the campaign will generate a 3 percent increase in traveler spending throughout the region.

"We're happy that as a regional partnership, we get to continue this awesome promotion that celebrates everything that makes these five Northwoods counties a great place for visitors year-round, but especially notable in the fall," Debbe Kinsey, executive director of the Merrill Area Chamber of Commerce, said in the release.

Fairs & fests

WAUSAU

Jazz up your weekend at the Sid Kyler River Valley Jazz Festival, held from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. Friday and noon to 10 p.m. Saturday at Bull Falls Brewery, 901 E. Thomas St., Wausau, and in the brewery's beer garden. Central Wisconsin swing and jazz bands will play the stage in the beer garden. Admission is free with a suggested $5 donation. Proceeds from the event will go toward scholarships for students who want to study jazz music.

Northwoods community Phelps will host its inaugural Phelps Phly-In and Pholk Music Phestival from 9 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. Saturday at Wavering Park at the corner of highways 17 and E in Vilas County. Festivities include a pig roast lunch, a seaplane fly-in at the Phelps town beach all day, and live acoustic music from 3 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Admission to all events is free.

Detours & delays

Traffic impact: Crews are reconstructing the southbound I-39 lanes between Business Highway 51 and Foxglove Road and replacing and widening the bridges over the Wisconsin River and Business 51.

Northbound and southbound I-39 is open to two lanes of traffic, but the speed limit is reduced to 55 mph through the work zone. The on-ramp to northbound I-39 from Business 51 is closed until late August. Traffic is detoured onto Business 51 and Highway 29.

Business 51 is open to a single lane of traffic in each direction.

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News from the North

A consortium of five Northwoods counties, called the Northwoods of Wisconsin, received a third-year, $15,000 joint effort marketing grant from the Department of Tourism.

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